Break Every Chain

As our church is preparing to host the next "Stepping into Leadership" conference March 1-2, I have been dwelling on our conference title.  It's a title that stirs up great anticipation inside of me.  It's a topic that hits very close to home in my life personally.

"Break Every Chain"

That just creates excitement in my heart!  Too many Christians are walking around with chains on them...chains that are holding them back from the purpose that God has for their lives!!!  It's time to break those chains and find true FREEDOM!!!  I cannot wait to see what God does at this conference!!!!!!!

But as I've been praying for this, God has been stirring up something inside of me. 

Break EVERY chain.

Not just some chains.  Every chain.

I know from personal experience that it is easy to let God break SOME of the chains that we are bound with.  Now, I'm not saying the process is necessarily easy.  Instead I mean that there are often chains that we are willing to part with....chains that we want gone.  Those aren't as difficult to lay at the altar and say, "Here God, I don't want this anymore!"

But what about the chains that are buried deep within us?

You know what I'm talking about.  The chains that are hidden.  The ones that we don't want to ever admit that we have.  The ones that we are ashamed of.  The ones we would rather bury than deal with.  The ones that scare us.  The ones that we ignore, hoping that they will go away on their own.

It's time we let God break EVERY chain.

Not just the chains we want Him to.  Not just the ones we are comfortable about dealing with.

Every chain.

What is the chain that is holding you back?  What is the one thing you don't want to deal with....or admit?  What's the chain that you are trying to bury?  What have you been telling God you can't do--what's holding you back?

We aren't truly free until each and every chain is broken.

Every chain.

Then I started wondering....why do we keep that chain?  Why do we hold onto it?  I mean, the chains that hold us back do not have a lock.  We can decide at any point to put them down.   So...why don't we?  Why do we stay in bondage?

Maybe we're scared of dealing with it.  Maybe it has become such a part of us that we don't know how we would function without it.  Maybe we think that we can never change....that it is just "who we are"...that the chain defines us.  Maybe...just maybe...we actually like the chain.  Maybe leaving the chain will force us out of our comfort zone.

Whatever the reason for the chain, the solution is the same.  We can't fully break the chain on our own, but we CAN break it with God's help.

It's time to give God the chains.  It's time to allow Him to break every chain.

Yes.  EVERY chain.

It's time to ask God to show us the chains that are holding us back from being the men and women of God that we should be.  It's time to take the foothold away from the enemy.

And when that happens...when we truly lay the chains at God's feet...we will find true FREEDOM!